HILLSDALE — Earlier this week, in what was the final city council meeting for Mayor Doug Moon and council members Casey Sullivan and Mary Wolfram, the outgoing members again showed their support for a city income tax designated to help fix Hillsdale's streets.

Mayor Moon was the most boisterous, telling the incoming council to not worry about upsetting people if it means getting the income tax passed.

"We've got some different people that will be (on the) council and that's fantastic. It's good to get some new blood in here," Moon said. "The one thing that I would strongly recommend is that you ignore the noise and the flotsam and the jetsam surrounding your ship. You're going to find one or two vocal people that absolutely have no use for anything and they just want someone to say things that make them feel good about themselves. They don't want the truth.

"So please dig into the data, look into things," he continued. "Don't worry about making people happy; they can take care of that on their own. We're here to get a job done."

Moon went on to say that even if the data showed council something they didn't agree with, they have to use the data to make the right decisions.

"You're not in it for yourself or your ward or anything like that, or for your employer. You're in it for the City of Hillsdale, so please keep that in mind," Moon said.

Moon's comments came after Wolfram and Sullivan each expressed their support for the tax.

"Everyone is backing off the income tax at this moment. I want you to think about doing the right thing anyway in the future," Wolfram said.

Wolfram said she believed the income tax should be instituted with a property tax decrease for residents of the city as a way to keep their taxes at the current levels. Wolfram said she felt the current council didn't do a good enough job of publicizing the tax and explaining it to voters and that maybe by combining the income tax with a decrease on property tax more voters would approve of it.

"For our city — in the situation we're in where our seven largest employers are tax exempt entities — we have a special set of circumstances where the property tax does not work for us. It's not working, it's not going to work for us in the future," Wolfram said. "You really need to find an alternative."

Sullivan added on to Wolfram's point.

"The income tax is definitely the right way to go," Sullivan said. "I think it's the fairest and basically the only way we're going to get our streets fixed in our lifetimes. A lot of the other ideas that were floated are pipe dreams. They're just fantasy. It's actually hurting us in doing the right thing by putting out that kind of information."

Page 2 of 2 - The income tax was developed last year and proposed taxing residents 1 percent of their incomes and those who work in the city .5 percent as a way to raise money for the streets. It was estimated that $1.1 million a year would be generated through the tax.

However, voters were not in favor of the tax and it was defeated soundly as 70 percent of the voters cast ballots against it.

After making his comments on the street issue, Moon took the opportunity to offer his thoughts on the members of council and the city he's worked with during his four years as mayor.

"In my four years I've had some incredible council people up here. I've had some deplorable council people; they all know who they are," Moon said. "I think that the staff at city hall is top notch. I think we get a significant amount accomplished on a rather shoestring budget."

Moon then criticized those who suggested cutting the budget will help free up money for the street repairs.

"I keep hearing about cutting the budget, cutting the budget, cutting budget. That all sounds great when you're preaching to the choir," Moon said. "In all reality you're not going to be able to squeeze $300,000 or half a million out of our budget. If you could've that would have been done by now."

The outgoing members of council will have to be in attendance next Tuesday when the new members will be sworn in, but Monday's meeting was their final meeting as active council members.

During the actual meeting council voted to pass an ordinance to the city charter allowing for restaurants to serve customers outdoors. They also voted to approve a land-lease agreement for land near the city airport. The items were approved unanimously and there was no discussion by council on either item.